June 2 2008, Test and Tune

Traffic to Race City was brutal. I imagine I lost 30-45 mins of track driving time just due to sitting in traffic.

The track was rented out for the evening. Yes, it rained but it gave the new meaning to driving consistent. The highlight of the night was preparing myself to drive. The rain was just an added bonus to test the car out. Things have changed in car setup and I really haven’t set foot on the track until now. Most folks worry when it comes to rain. I think the rain actually makes me focus a lot more. I enjoyed the evening a lot and could have kept on driving way past 10 pm in the dark.

I took things slow…
Most of the runs I was remembering what the track felt like and trying different lines for the civic to play. The interesting note is how quick the car accelerates. I kept searching for braking points and to be honest I braked too early (better than too late) and the areas where I know I can corner through I chicken shit out and lifted. What I don’t feel confident is the rear – it wants to step out inconsistently

As I said I took a few more different lines and I have to say I tried a crazy line that is very close to “JP” line. There’s a lot to be said in giving up entrance speed while exit speed increases… We’ll see how that pans out but it’s good for blocking if I do it right …. (if not I spin out and sit in the swamp which would suck.

A couple of 911’s came out as well and while I could out accelerate them on the straight I could not follow any of these cars through the corners. I would encounter a snap over steer and then if I counter and mash the throttle I would get a crazy amount of boost that would out drive the quaife lsd. Then, of course the car would push… I stayed with them and during those Anthony would be right there in his supercharged RSX.

As a friend has told me (Matt):

Quote

Confusious say – when roads slippery… drive AWD

After a late dinner with nothing but “track talk” (I’ll have to add another topic for that – just very kwel) I made the comment that these two 911’s (silver, black) drove odd lines for a rwd and WTF – I could not attack the corner the same way and that they seemed to maintain grip? I find out they were AWD .

So, on my hero run in 5th gear (you most likely want a speed reference – most likely 230kmh) while applying the brakes on brake marker 2, the brake peddle sinks to the floor, and I frantically try and pump the brakes to try and regain some pressure. Somewhere between marker 1 and the orange cone I get brakes back, enough that I end up pitching the car sideways to corner 1. A quick blip and downshift I I go back on the throttle to pull myself back into corner 2 only to lose brakes again – this time it’s because the turbo pulled all the vacuum. Some how I keep the car in control and and keep going through to corner 3 – ofcourse I pitch corner 3 a little sideways from the rain.

During this time Anthony was following right behind me and so I point him to pass me coming out of corner 3 as I didn’t want to hold him back because I fucked up, but he points me back to lead.

As our last session ends I meet up with Ant and the first things he tells me is that I’m shooting about 8 inches of flames out of the car with every down shift or hard throttle pull. The other thing is that he saw my fuck up, but I wasn’t holding him back. It was a lot more fun chasing someone you know and trust on the track.

Things to note:

Very bumpy. More so than what I remember

Curbs hurt. It’s violent and most likely I will damage axles or suspension